Kingdom of Heaven and Han

Chapter 481 Benevolence and Dao

Speaking of this, Wang Xiaolie said: "It doesn't matter if you don't know what I said earlier. Write it down and go back and understand it slowly. This is not to say which one is smart and which one is not. You have just been recruited into the school. , I have never thought about these things before, and it is very normal not to understand. As you learn and work, you will gradually understand what I mean. If you don’t explain these things, you won’t be able to explain why we adopt such a It is necessary to elect such a person to be an official. Only when we explain clearly can everyone understand that everything is not without reason.”

After speaking, Wang Xiaolie asked everyone to rest for a quarter of an hour.

Standing up, Wang Ruohai pressed his waist and said to Wang Xiaolie: "Before today, I didn't know that Zhenfu could speak so well."

Wang Xiaolie said helplessly: "It's not that I can say it, but I've thought about these things for a long time, and I just took this opportunity to say it."

Chen Qiudao said: "To be honest, I'm at a loss as to what Zhen Fu said, and I didn't even understand the general meaning. It seems that I have to borrow the people below to write it down. Let's read it slowly later. Although I don't understand What exactly is Zhen Fu talking about, but it is very important to know."

Wang Xiaolie nodded: "Yes, it is very important. When I do things in the future, I will continue to explain in conjunction with what I said today. After a long time, you will naturally understand. Some things we don't think are important, but they are actually very important. Avoid Not open."

After a few gossips, everyone came back and sat down one after another.

Wang Xiaolie said: "Most of the things discussed above are issues that ordinary people don't think about. Everyone sounds boring. What I will talk about next should not be so boring. As officials, we use saints as teachers, so naturally we cannot do without benevolence." , righteousness, these two words. Let’s talk about these two words below.”

"It is said in the "Tao Te Ching" that Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. There is also a saying that all things in the world are born of being, and being is born of nothing. What does Lao Tzu mean when he said this sentence, I don’t know. I also don’t believe the annotations of later generations. Today I’m going to talk about my own views. Don’t get me wrong, no one knows if I always think this way.”

"Tao produces oneness. Dao is something that we can't explain or explain clearly. The oneness that is born is something we can understand. One is the world we know, not the world of Tao. When we know this oneness, we find that it is not everywhere. The same. At the very least, there is a self in it, and there is a non-me. The most basic one, the self and the non-self, are two. Can the self and the non-self be clearly separated? As we said earlier, there is a limit without boundaries. We I can distinguish between me and non-self, but I can’t find the boundary between me and non-self. What should I do? At the boundary, another part is drawn, and this part is used as the boundary. This part marked out as the boundary is three. And if this three, and then draw the boundary as before, it will give birth to innumerable multitudes, dividing all things. The core of it is still limited but unbounded."

"Everyone must understand the four words of limitless and unbounded. After understanding these four words, many problems will be solved. What is one, what is two, what is three, there are many views. The most common one is The saying is that three is the public. Three people stacked together is the word public. Don’t have to argue about this kind of thing, I am right and you are wrong, it’s just a different understanding. And all things are born of being, there is one similar to the previous one, But it is different from one. There must always be something in the world to produce all things. But being can only be born from nothing, and cannot come from other places.”

These two sentences in the Tao Te Ching, in the words of later generations, have extremely high philosophical significance.Not only the humanities, but also a high-level generalization of the natural sciences.From a philosophical point of view, being can only be born out of nothing, and there is no other answer.But in the natural sciences, there are growing signs that our universe did indeed emerge from nothing.

"What I just talked about is division. Because it is necessary to divide self and non-self, one person becomes two, and all things are born. If my role jumps out, it is not me who divides the world, but the distinction based on the original face of the world. Daoshengyi Come out, in my eyes, this place is different from that side. Humans are different from monkeys, men and women are different. This difference is also two. Separated is two, so what about combining? Man and woman, combined to form Family. One man, one woman, plus family, that's three."

"Why do you talk about this? Because I asked earlier, as an individual, I have my will, and you have yours. So the collection of many people, do they have a will? For example, does a family have a family's will? Does the clan have the will of the clan? Does a country have the will of the country? How is this kind of will similar to the will of an individual? What is different? "

"In Confucianism, although the predecessors did not talk about it in this way, they believe that there is a collective will. Especially the country and the nation, they think their own will. The words benevolence and righteousness should be placed in the relationship between the country and people."

"Zi said, my way is consistent, and it is nothing more than loyalty and forgiveness. This sentence was said by Confucius, and it is his summary of his own thoughts. When others summarize Confucius' thoughts, they always add their own views. Although some authorities are obsessed with this matter, But I think, no matter how you sum it up, it is not as clear as what Confucius himself said. The word loyalty and forgiveness is what Confucius thought of himself.”

"Everyone reads the books of sages and sages. You should understand what loyalty and forgiveness are, but they don't understand that well. There is no doubt that these two words are about the relationship between people. The simplest one is the ruler and the minister. A minister should be loyal to the ruler, and a ruler should forgive the minister. Is this the case? I think this is not comprehensive. Sometimes, should the ruler be loyal to the minister? Should the minister be forgiven to the king? The most important thing is the attitude that two people need to have when facing a matter. You do things for me, you have to be loyal to me. If the words are put together, they cannot be separated. Once they are separated, there will be no loyalty without forgiveness. Without loyalty, how can there be forgiveness?"

"The way of Confucius is loyalty and forgiveness. It talks about the relationship between two people, or two groups, or the relationship between people and the group. Personal. Later people talked more about loyalty, but I don’t know where I forgot. I repeat, loyalty and forgiveness are linked together and cannot be spoken separately. When these two words are combined, it is benevolence. Since Confucius said it this way, there is no need to explain too much about benevolence.”

"Benevolence is about the relationship between two people, not the collective. Righteousness is different, and it talks about the relationship between the individual and the collective. It is also about the human and the collective. When talking about benevolence, it is likened to two people. Loyalty and forgiveness must coexist. Lectures are different. , there is no loyalty and forgiveness, only the word righteousness. I don’t want to talk about too many kinds of righteousness, but only one kind of righteousness, that is, the great righteousness of the country. For a regime, this is the most important thing.”

"To be honest, I can't tell you exactly what righteousness should include. Enriching the meaning of righteousness requires everyone to do it together. But one thing is for sure, it is more about asking individuals to dedicate themselves to the country. The country does not need to do it for you. What you need to do is to do something for all the people including you. That is to say, in righteousness, there is loyalty, but there is no forgiveness. The forgiveness of the country is not for individuals, but for the people.”

"The Great Learning in the Book of Rites said that in ancient times, those who wished to manifest their virtues in the world first ruled their country; those who wanted to rule their country first ordered their families; If you want to correct your heart, you must first be sincere in your mind; if you want to be sincere in your mind, you must first extend your knowledge, and the extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things. After investigating things, you will know them, and then you will be sincere after you know them. When the heart is upright, the mind is upright and then the body is cultivated, the body is cultivated and then the family is in order, the family is in order and then the country is governed, and the country is governed and then the world is peaceful. Investigating things, extending knowledge, sincerity, rectifying the mind, self-cultivation, regulating the family, governing the country, and leveling the world, such a sequence, I do not agree Agree. Maybe it was like this in the time when "Book of Rites?

"In short, benevolence refers to the relationship between two people. Even between a person and a country, it is analogous to two people. Loyalty and forgiveness coexist, and one is indispensable. Righteousness refers to the relationship between the individual and the collective. There is only loyalty but no forgiveness. Or the collective Forgiveness is not for you alone, but for all individuals. If you understand benevolence and righteousness, and officials are officials, many things will have standards."

(End of this chapter)